July 22, 2017 – Salt Lake City, Utah – Rugby Utah Ventures (RUV), the state’s officially recognized Geographic Rugby Organization, announced changes to its leadership team this week. Departing Rugby Utah’s front office will be co-founder and Chairman Ken Rivera who is leaving to pursue other business interests. RUV Vice-Chairman Dean Howes will step in to assume Chairman role on an interim basis at the same time that the RUV management prepares for the launch of its Major League Rugby (MLR) team set to kick off in 2018.

RUV’s CEO and co-founder Kimball Kjar commented regarding Rivera’s departure from RUV, “We will be always be deeply indebted to Ken for his outstanding contributions to the growth and development of Rugby Utah and the foundation he helped lay in preparation for our professional level team. We wish Ken all the best in his future endeavors and hope his influence in the American and Utah rugby communities will continue to move the sport forward.”

Kjar hinted at other executive appointments and forthcoming announcements saying only, “we are in the final stages of making some exciting additions to RUV that will further our goals in bringing rugby of professional caliber to Utah and the nation.”

“I am excited to apply the invaluable lessons of building Real Salt Lake to an organization with the quality and promise of Rugby Utah,” said newly appointed interim chairman Dean L. Howes. “Rugby has the same potential to grow and develop in the US that we saw with Major League Soccer, maybe even faster. We have seen MLS franchise values appreciate 10x in just 15 years. There’s no reason to expect anything but the same or better for organizations like Rugby Utah as they evolve from regional club teams to pro league competitors.”

With today’s announcement, the RUV board will now include CEO Kjar, former Real Salt Lake CEO Dean Howes who was instrumental in the development of Real Salt Lake and the building of Rio Tinto Stadium serving as Interim Chairman, and Jamison Davis, a Rugby Utah-cofounder and a respected communications strategist and policy advisor with strong ties to Utah’s tech community. For more information on Rugby Utah, visit www.rugbyutah.com

About Rugby Utah

Rugby Utah Ventures, LLC (RU) is the official Recognized Geographic Rugby Organization for USA Rugby and is focused on aggregating the strengths of rugby in the state of Utah, from the youth to the elite levels. The goal of RU is to unify rugby within the state through High Performance programs like the Olympic Development Academy and Community programs like the Rugby Business Network, Touch Rugby League and A 2nd Try Foundation. With these programs already producing positive results on and off the pitch the “United State of Rugby” looks to develop the most elite rugby players, coaches and referees and to develop the economic engines necessary to build and strengthen America’s rugby culture. For more information, visit www.rugbyutah.com #UnitedStateofRugby

1 Comment

Gonzalo
on September 14, 2017 at 13:18

I was a rugby player for 25 year in my country, argentina, is awesome to see how fast rugby is growing in utah, I wouldlike this keep going and going.